Taped-Up Heart

XXXVI. Four Rings

Chapter Thirty Six

Four Rings

"Where are you bringing me?" I asked him. I was now sitting in the passenger seat of his car, blindfolded. Sa ilang buwan na magkasama kami, I've discovered one thing about him: he's seriously full of surprises.

Everyday, he never fails to surprise me. Na ganito pala siya, ganyan pala siya. Not just with material things, but mostly with little things about himself.

"I told you, it's a surpise. Hindi na surprise if I'm going to tell you," I heard him say.

I groaned. "Malayo pa ba?"

"Malapit na," he said, holding my hand.

True to his word, the car stopped a few minutes later. "We're here," he said. Narinig ko ang pagsara ng pintuan niya at pagbukas naman ng akin.

He held my hand and assisted me out. Hanggang paglalakad ay inaalalayan niya ako. We stopped after a few steps.

"Can I take this off now?" I asked him.

"Not yet," he replied. "Count one to ten. After that, you can finally remove it—but count slowly, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

"Achaia? Where are you going?" I asked, noticing that he had let go of my hand.

"You'll know after counting," he said. "Start now."

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

I reached behind my head to untie the blindfold. Slowly, I removed it, but I saw nothing but darkness.

"Achaia?" I called out.

And the moment I spoke, the lights began turning on, one by one. Only then did I realize that I was in a theatre. Nakatayo ako sa pinakataas kaya sinimulan ko nang bumaba ng hagdanan hanggang sa makarating ako sa gitna.

The curtains split into half, and revealed the children on stage holding light sticks. Nagulat ako nang makita ko na sila ang mga bata na tinutulungan ko sa foundation. Pero mas lalo akong nagulat nang magsimula na silang kumanta.

I've been reading books of old

The legends and the myths

Achilles and his gold

Hercules and his gifts

Spiderman's control

And batman with his fists

And clearly, I don't see myself upon that list

Nagsimula na ulit akong humakbang pababa ng hagdanan. I couldn't believe that he had planned all of this—that he actually thought of something like this and did it for me.

But she said where'd you wanna go?

How much you wanna risk?

I'm not looking for somebody

With some superhuman gifts

Some superhero

Some fairytale bliss